Just Mercy

First Hit: A compelling and moving story about overturning injustice.

This movie is based on the true-life story of Bryan Stevenson (Michael B. Jordan), who, after finishing law school at Harvard, moved to the deep south to help death-row prisoners in Alabama.

Although he was offered prestigious positions in other law firms, his mind was made up while during an internship, he interviewed death-row prisoners. He is deeply touched by these prisoner's stories and, after reviewing their files, learned that many of these men were unjustly accused and incarcerated.

Upon graduating from Harvard and passing the Alabama Bar, he moved to and opened a federally funded group to represent prisoners on death row. Arriving at their new offices, he is informed that he and his office manager Eva Ansley (Brie Larson), wouldn’t be able to rent the offices because of the type of work they were doing. Holing up in Eva and her husband’s home, they begin their quest to represent wrongfully convicted death-row inmates. The three touched upon in this film were different types of cases.

One of the stories is about Herbert Richardson (Rob Morgan), who was convicted of killing someone by a bomb he planted on the front porch of a house. Yes, he made the bomb, but what wasn’t taken into consideration was that Richardson had PTSD from his time in Vietnam and had struggled by being in and out of mental health facilities for over 30 years. His story is wonderfully mixed into the overall film by following his appeal process and subsequent death by electrocution. The latter is such a powerful scene, that it had our entire Saturday afternoon audience audibly crying.

The main story is about Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx), a man convicted of killing a young 18-year-old girl. The fact was that at the time of the victim’s death, he was surrounded by his entire family preparing food for a local fish fry. The testimony that got him incarcerated was given by Ralph Myers (Tim Blake Nelson), who was a convicted felon that made up the story to get off of death row. In other words, he made a deal to lie for the local police and DA so that he would have a more comfortable life in prison.

The storyline follows how Stevenson and Ansley, jump through enormous hoops put forth by the Alabama criminal justice system, to let the truth be known. The resistance was there in order to keep the criminal justice system from having to say it was criminally wrong and did not hand out justice to everyone equally under the law.

The film does a great job of mining the stories of the key players and how they ended up where they are. It also points out the discriminatory nature of many people and areas that still exist in the South.

This is a moving film, and I know that anyone seeing it will be impacted by the excellent acting and story behind the characters. The scene where Richarson is put to death is so powerfully well done even though you never see the actual execution. You’d be hard-pressed to not be affected by this scene.

Jordan was terrific as Stevenson. He plays this character with kindness and driven compassion which is outwardly kept under wraps. Larson is lovely as a mother and woman who is driven to do the right thing regardless of the impact on her family. Foxx was sublime. I loved the way he slowly let his guard down with Stevenson as time passed. It’s a powerful performance. Nelson, as Myers was terrific. His critical role in the story was only outshone by his ability to draw the audience into his persona and how he got to be the person he was. You cannot take your eyes off him when he’s on the screen. Morgan was phenomenal. I loved his character and maybe because I am also a Vietnam Veteran. I’ve met numerous street people who are vets that got lost along the way. His story touched me deeply. Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Lanham wrote an outstanding script and dug in where it needed to. Cretton got incredible performances from the entire cast and needs to be commended for bringing this subject to film.

Overall: A film worth seeing as the story it tells helps us learn who we are and what we need to change.

Baby Driver

First Hit:  Thoroughly enjoyable and fun to watch.

The music mood of the film begins right away. The music is critically important to Baby (Ansel Elgort) because he spends most of his time with his white earbuds in his ears to listen to music that the audience hears during critical moments and sometimes as background in other scenes.

Baby uses the music piped into his brain to drown out the constant noise due to tinnitus. It could be that one of the reasons I related well to this film. Because of the explosive noises I was subjected to in Vietnam and from the extra loud rock concerts I attended, I have a severe case of tinnitus which means I have a constant loud noise in my head all the time.

I find that when I write, especially the two books I’m currently writing, I do it with music headphones on or I use the background noise of a café because it helps me concentrate. That’s why Baby listens to music especially when he drives the getaway vehicles for robberies set up by Doc (Kevin Spacey).

Doc obtains information about banks, armored cars, or even the post office he thinks would make great targets for cash. Doc then gathers a crew of people to do the job and each crew is a cast of different characters for each job he does except Baby.

Doc caught Baby stealing his car once and the trunk contained bags of drugs. Although Baby didn’t know about the drugs, when he fenced the car the drugs were lost. Doc makes Baby drive for the robberies because he’s the best driver there is and Baby’s share of the jobs goes to Doc as repayment for the lost drugs.

The robbery teams include; Buddy (Jon Hamm) Griff, (Jon Bernthal), Darling (Eiza Gonzalez), and Bats (Jamie Foxx). Darling and Buddy are a couple and work together but their first time working with Bats is quite an experience.

When Baby meets a waitress, at a diner he frequents, he is immediately taken with her because she sings while she walks by. Debora (Lily James), is drifting like he is. Her singing reminds him of his mom who sang and also worked at the same diner before she died in a car accident when he was a little boy. He was in the car when his parents died and it was this event that gave him the tinnitus.

When she says to him, she just wants to get in a car and drive west to a new life, he completely falls for her. Baby decides that he’s going to do one last job for Doc, pay off his debt, and ask Debora to go west with him.

This is a great set up for the film because Bats is crazy as hell, Buddy and Darling are fully capable of mayhem, Doc is arrogantly mysterious and Baby is, well, incredibly focused and talks very little.

The only things that I didn’t like in the film was the opening scene which seemed to choreographed and a couple of the scenes when Baby is walking to and from a coffee house to bring the robbery teams coffee. They were a bit to staged as well. Else I loved the driving scenes, the music and the premise as it was unique.

Elgort was fantastic. His inner character is exemplified during the scenes where he's with his foster parent Joseph (CJ Jones). Now that Jones cannot care for himself alone, it is Baby who takes care of him. His boyish soft looks belied the intense driven young man inside. He was perfect for the part. Hamm was great as the intense man, feeding habits including his girlfriend, Darling. Gonzalez was wonderful as the intense woman who was loved by Buddy. Together they had matching intense, impulsive and wild natures. Foxx was off the charts crazy. He clearly made this role his own. Spacey was perfect as the guy with the mean sarcastic whit. He’s got a wonderful ability to make his character drip in a smarmy liquid way. Jones was strong as the deaf man who loved Baby and wanted only the best for him. James was beyond amazing. Her sweet strong personality was perfect for the part. She exuded this role completely. Edger Wright wrote and directed this unique film with deftness. I loved the choreographed driving scenes and my only criticism I’ve already shared. This is one of the best actions films of the year.

Overall:  This movie was a joy ride.

Horrible Bosses 2

First Hit:  Although there were some funny bits, it lacked being a full on comedy.

The three main characters Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis), and Dale (Charlie Day) are opening their own business with a product for the shower.

The whole storyline around this and their interaction is, for the most part, not funny. They try funny bits; like demonstrating their product on TV, breaking into a house and stealing some nitrous oxide; but they aren’t funny at all. There is very little that's funny about the bits these three do together. However the funny parts is when they bring other characters into the fold.

Chris Pine as Rex the son of the owner of a large distribution company. Christoph Waltz as Bert the successful owner of the distribution company. Kevin Spacey as Dave the old imprisoned boss they wanted to kill. Jamie Foxx as Dean “MF” Jones, their criminal friend who gives them guidance.

And last but not least, Jennifer Aniston as Dr. Julie Harris and sex addicted dentist. Each of these other characters bring in dialogue and aliveness that make the audience laugh-out-loud. However in the end, the film is dead on arrival.

Bateman looks bored in the role. He’s supposed to be the smart steady one and he's this character to the detriment of the film. Sudeikis tries to be lively  and funny as the sex starved guy, but again the role and dialogue is old before it comes out of his mouth. Day as Dale the family man, is dull and unintelligent and ads little to the film. However, Pine is dynamic, over the top, and great as the son who wants more from his dad than he has. Waltz is oddly funny as the guy who puts his business and money over the welfare of his son (Pine). Foxx is intensely funny as the bad-ass friend of the crew. Spacey is intimidatingly intense as the imprisoned scruple-less boss. Aniston is great as the sex starved dentist. Watching her spit out her desires of what she wants to do with the men is precious. Sean Anders and John Morris wrote an unfunny story for the main characters while livening up the dialogue for the other characters. Anders didn’t do a very good job of writing and directing this comedy.

Overall:  This has to be the last of this series – it would only get worse if they try.

White House Down

First Hit:  A very entertaining action film that touches on our political subjects in a sometimes humorous way.

I’ll be open in saying; I didn’t have much hope for this film because it arrived in the theaters so shortly after another recent White House takeover film previewed.

However, this film is heads and tails above the other one. Black President Sawyer (played Jamie Foxx) has a quirky way of arriving to the White House when coming home by helicopter; he requests that the crew do a fly-by of the Lincoln Memorial. This is something that could be congruent with President Obama because of the association of Lincoln and slavery but highly unlikely.

This is why this film is interesting. It gives us a view of our President that makes him human. Cale (played by Channing Tatum) is a member of the Speaker of the House’ security crew, is divorced, doesn’t spend enough time with his daughter Emily (played by Joey King) and wants to get his life together by becoming part of the Presidential Secret Service.

The President is not liked by the head of the Secret Service as well as multiple Republican leaders in the Senate and House. Overall, the film is somewhat suspenseful, except there are clues early in the first few moments of the film telling the audience who the two main opponents to the President are. One specific scene told me exactly who was spearheading the take-over of the White House and to me it wasn't subtle enough.

This film, explores in different ways, the control of the government by special interest groups (arms makers), race perceptions (black President), party differences (Democrats and Republicans), gun use and laws surrounding gun use, computer sabotage, and our governments’ chain of command.

The essence of this film is, through motive of revenge, certain government officials want President Sawyer out of office so that his call for getting out of the Middle East can be reversed.

Foxx is really very good and funny, at times, and I just loved the line, “let go of my Jordan’s”. Tatum is very good as the guy who has been lost but is doing what he can to make it all right. King is sublime. She is amazing as the President admiring daughter of Tatums'. Maggie Gyllenhaal is very good as the number 2 person in the Secret Service. James Woods brings the right amount of intensity and strictness of belief to his role as head of the Secret Service. Richard Jenkins is effective as Speaker of the House Raphelson. James Vanderbilt wrote a strong, funny, and politically astute screenplay. Roland Emmerich did a very good job of making this unrealistic scenario fun, topical, and interesting.

Overall: This film is worth the price of admission on multiple levels.

Django Unchained

First Hit: Visually strong and arresting, crisp action, good story and great acting.

The story is about a slave named Django (played by Jamie Foxx) who is rescued from slavery by a dentist turned bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (played by Christoph Waltz). He saves him because Django knows the faces of Shultz’s next bounty.

Django is good as his partner and they work together as bounty hunters through the winter with a promise by Shultz to assist Django in finding his enslaved wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington). Broomhilda is enslaved by Calvin Candie (played by Leonard DiCaprio) who has a wizened and manipulative house slave Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson).

That’s the premise and along their journey there is enough of a story to set up backgrounds and motivations for each of the characters. The funny moments are truly funny. The violent bloody moments are true Tarantino blood baths.

The story and characters were wonderfully conceived and delivered.

Foxx is absolutely delivers a very strong performance as the enslaved and now free Django. Waltz is superior and excellent in his role and delivers some of the best lines in the film. Washington is sublime as the comfort slave with an unending spirit to live her life fully. DiCaprio is surprisingly and excellently nice, crude, and mean as the owner of the largest slave plantation. Jackson is beyond sublime as the wizened house slave. His ability to show both control (drinking a drink in the library room) and subservience was amazing. When he is on the screen you have to watch him. Quentin Tarantino wrote a tight, engaging and expressive script and his direction was flawless.

Overall:  This film is one of Quentin Tarantino’s best efforts as writer and director.